Part-time waitress Jamie serves up great news
FOR single mom Tessa Penrith, her biggest achievement is her children, and eldest daughter Jamie did not disappoint when she achieved six distinctions in her final school exams.
But the Pearson High School matriculant’s path to obtaining outstanding results was not easy.
Having worked odd jobs for most of her high school career to assist her mom – a single mother of three – financially, Jamie, 18, managed to find a way to juggle work with studying for the most important tests of her life so far – and it paid off.
Her dedication left her mom a little speechless yesterday.
“I was without a job for a long time, but Jamie stepped up. She is amazing . . . waitressing twice a week while writing her finals and still achieving top results,” Penrith said.
Jamie received six distinctions for English, Afrikaans, life orientation, business studies, design and history, only narrowly missing out on a distinction in maths. And because the brainy beauty refuses to spend her life behind a desk doing something she does not enjoy, she was prompted to study towards a Bachelor of Visual Arts degree at NMMU.
“I just want to be happy,” she said with a broad smile yesterday.
“I thoroughly enjoyed doing design in school and that was where my passion for it was sparked.”
Her marks did not come as a shock either. “I worked hard and I have been quite consistent so it was what I expected, but maybe a little higher.”
Jamie contributed towards her household’s expenses by waitressing at Angelo’s in Stanley Street – or at functions – and doing promotions.
As the eldest of three children, her two younger siblings are already following hot on her heels, with both her sister and brother achieving top marks in their respective grades.
“Life does not happen to Jamie – Jamie happens to life,” the teenager said.